The present invention relates to an elongated hand thrown projectile that can improve throwing mechanics and training for recreational activities. The invention can be used in any place that is large enough to throw an object from one person to another. The invention is simply manufactured and the elements of it can be detached for easy storage.
Overhead throwing is used in numerous recreational activities, including baseball, football, cricket, water polo, javelin throwing, and others. Although these are different activities, with different purposes, rules, and strategies, the mechanics of overhead throwing in each is quite similar; cross-training from one activity to another has its benefits. A pitcher can throw a javelin and use the mechanics for throwing the javelin to provide insight on how to better throw a baseball or other object. However, due to differences in the mechanics of javelin throwing and throwing for other objects—for instance in javelin throwing the throwers hand is supinated—the mechanics are not identical and thus cannot be directly applied from one to the other. From this “spear vs. sphere” dilemma, baseball throwers have had difficulty in throwing a javelin. To better transfer the skills from one sport to another, it is helpful to identify the discrete mechanics of a throwing motion, and determine which are beneficial and how they could be used within another sport.
The mechanics of baseball pitching are aimed at improving delivery, speed and accuracy of the ball. In recent years, some of those mechanics have become very controversial. Medical professionals and coaches have found that certain mechanics taught to pitchers, while beneficial in terms of speed and accuracy, are detrimental to parts of a pitcher's body, specifically his elbows and shoulders. Early wear-and-tear from throwing mechanics has led some young pitchers to undergo surgeries in hopes of extending their playing career. For older pitchers, such injuries have prematurely ended their career.
One of the main concerns now acknowledged by professionals in the industry is what is known as the “inverted W” which is the shape made by the arms of some pitchers, prior to pitching when in their prelaunch. For some, the inverted W comes naturally, and for others it is taught as a part of pitching mechanics. The problem with the inverted W is that following the prelaunch, and during the rapid firing of the ball, there is a “flopping” or “bouncing” of the arm when the throwing arm quickly moves from prelaunch to delivery, and the humerus bone rapidly changes direction. Many throwing coaches teach methods that lead to the inverted W simply because that is how they were taught. Some assume it provides for a greater range of motion (RoM), and others fail to see the correlation of their techniques as contributors to the “inverted W.” However, due to injuries related to the inverted W, coaches and medical professionals have begun to urge pitchers to adjust their mechanics away from the inverted W.
The mechanics of the inverted W are typically as follows: 1) throwing arm abduction to an internal rotation of the rotator cuff, and pronation of the hand (showing the ball to second base); 2) external rotation and subscapular load flex of the rotator cuff as the elbow starts to accelerate forward (flopping or bouncing) and an effort to supinate the throwing hand to a neutral position; 3) internal rotation of the rotator cuff, triceps extension, and pronation of throwing hand during release. Experts are now exploring ways to teach beneficial pitching mechanics that continue to provide excellent pitching, but with an effort to avoid the inverted W or other mechanics that similarly strain a pitcher's arm and shoulder.
The problem that has arisen is that many experts disagree on what is the proper technique for pitchers, or if there is one proper technique to be taught at all, as opposed to player-specific techniques. However, what is becoming clear is, whatever the optimal positions and movements are, a simpler approach involving lesser arm movement is beneficial.
The present invention provides for a device aimed at teaching, or re-teaching, specific baseline mechanics that place the pitchers hand in a neutral rather than supinated or pronated position and which tracks the throwing motion on a linear path, thus away from the inverted W or similar methods. This position is the starting place for teaching pitchers how to throw without subjecting their arms to the wear-and-tear of over-rotational movements and techniques that are pre-cursors to the inverted W. The device provides for a neutral placement of a pitcher's hand that, in turn, further adapts the linear “spear throw” of a javelin to the linear “sphere throw” of a ball. This is accomplished by the specific arrangement of the elements of the device, determined through years of research, development and prototype testing. What has been discovered is that elongated throwing devices, like a javelin, are beneficial in training pitchers and in teaching them proper techniques that will track their arm motion on a linear, single-plane path, rather than a rounded, multi-plane path, thus reducing strain and injury. However, the technique used for throwing a javelin or similar device is not similar enough to baseball throwing oriented movements, creating the “spear vs. sphere” dilemma, and thus a new apparatus is necessary.
From this new device and the training associated with it, pitchers and coaches can alter techniques that will place the pitcher's hand in a neutral position, and that will prevent the excessive movement seen in other techniques. Many pitchers have years of muscle memory that needs replacing. This device can quickly teach pitchers how their technique should be altered, and will force their body into the proper position. Thus, rather than simply being told what to do, the device shows pitchers what to do by overcoming previous muscle memory and finite neuro-pathways, abandoning undesired movements, and creating new neuro-pathways.
The present invention addresses these and other deficiencies related to throwing mechanics by providing an apparatus arranged to place the hand in a neutral position and to mimic the throw required by a javelin, or “spear,” with the grip and optimal position of a ball, or “sphere.”